thanks to good friend and music buddy roxanne, who got me a hmv gift card for my birthday. it is exactly the kind of gift that i like!

of course, i cannot keep it in my wallet for long, so i went to the store to check out the new releases today. while browsing the shelves, i was distracted by all the spice girls songs they were blasting in the store; ugh, (bad) memories from high school. i was a bit confused by some of the new releases: spice girls? backstreet boys? wtf?! are we back in 1998?

the other new releases this week were not of interest to me. so i got some older albums. radio-friendly rock music. i just want some easy stuff to listen to. i am getting 'old'.

brand new - deja entenduyes, i know, there are countless, undistinguishable, generic emo-pop-punk bands out there. but for some reason, this album stands out to me. i admit, it is because of that "sic transit gloria" song. is this a guilty pleasure? not really. there are a few emo-pop-punk bands among the masses that i actually enjoy quite a lot. brand new is one of them.

neverending white lights - act ii: the blood and the life eternali got this on a whim. i saw it at the store, remembered his song "the grace" - a nice song, featuring vocals by dallas green - from a few years ago, and thought "ah? new material? let's see who's contributing this time..." i like that he finds different vocalists for each of his songs. seeing a current cast that includes jimmy gnecco, auf der maur, rob dickinson, and hawksley workman (!), i knew i must get this cd.

nine inch nails - things falling apart"the fragile" is probably my favourite nin album. i have no idea why it took me so long to get this remix album. anyway, i got it today; i will be listening to this all week.